HIstorical Notes

SKERRIES LIFEBOAT STATION
Established 1854
Closed 1930
Re-opened 1981

1854	Lifeboat house constructed for £98
1858	Gold Medal awarded to Mr H A Hamilton of Balbriggan for rescuing the crew of 13 from the brig Tregiste of Trieste that ran ashore during an easterly gale between Lambay Island and the mainland on 17 November 1858. This was an unusually gallant service and reflected the highest credit on the bravery and perseverance of Mr Hamilton and his crew. Mr Hamilton already held the Silver Medal and clasp for services at Balbriggan.
1859	Silver Medal awarded to a seaman Alexander Bain for going to the assistance of the French barque Azalea of Nantes, which had run ashore on the rocks off Skerries during a gale on 28 April. He gallantly waded into the surf at the peril of his life and conveyed a line to the vessel enabling her crew of three to be rescued.
1873	On 1 February, the lifeboat launched on service to the schooner Sarah of Runcorn. The night was bitterly cold with showers of snow and sleet and it is thought that the crew became numbed, and lost all their oars when a cross sea capsized the lifeboat and threw out the coxswain and six of the crew. The coxswain was the only man to regain the lifeboat. The lifeboat capsized a second and third time and only four of the crew survived, while six were drowned. The Institution voted £250 to the local fund.
1877	Two specimen lifebelts with new plans of fastening them to the body were sent to the station for trial. One was in the form of a waistcoat and the other fastened by means of straps and buckles.
1877	Silver Medal awarded to the Chief Officer of Coastguard John Payne for the part he played when the smack Falcon of Skerries was wrecked at Skerries, in an east-south-easterley gale with a very heavy sea on 2 January. At great personal risk, he swam twice to the aid of the crew of the wrecked vessel whereby he was successful in rescuing one man who was unconscious.
1879	Signal gun and magazine supplied.
1881	Lifeboat capsized without loss of life while out on service to the barque S. Vaughan of Windsor, Nova Scotia on 23 and 24 October. The lifeboat was being towed by a trawler when the tow rope broke and a sea struck the lifeboat on her quarter.
1903	New lifeboat house constructed at a cost of £767.
1930	Station closed following placing of a motor lifeboat at Howth.
1981	Inshore lifeboat station established in July with the placing on service of a D class lifeboat.
1997	Atlantic 21 lifeboat placed at station to carry out evaluation trials.
1997	Work commenced in April for a new boathouse for Atlantic and was completed in August.
2004	The Trustees of the Institution voted on 6 October that Skerries is to receive a Vellum to commemorate an aggregate of 100 years service as a lifeboat station in 2005.

MEDAL RECORD

Three Medals have been awarded, one Gold and two Silver; the last being voted in 1877.